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Russian special forces foil hijacking of Moscow-bound plane

Russian special forces foiled an attempted hijacking of a plane on Thursday coming from Mineralnye Vody in the Caucasus to Moscow's Domodedovo airport, Russian news agencies said.

AFP - Russian special forces on Thursday foiled the attempted hijacking of a plane coming from the Caucasus at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, Russian news agencies quoted an airport official as saying.

A passenger on a flight from Mineralnye Vody in the Caucasus to Moscow "made orders to the crew," an airport spokeswoman was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti.

Police and special forces from Russia's FSB internal security agency isolated the plane from others at the airport and cleared it out, she added.

"All of the passengers were freed, there were no victims," a spokesman for the transport police was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass, adding that the hijacker was believed to be a 40-year-old resident of Mineralnye Vody.

Ria Novosti quoted police as saying that the hijacker kept the plane under control for two hours after it landed. One of the passengers felt sick and the hijacker allowed doctors to come on board.

AFP was unable to confirm the reports with police or airport authorities.

The Russian Caucasus remain highly unstable after Moscow fought two bloody wars against Chechen separatists in the 1990s. Attacks by militants from the region are frequent.